Spanish League players, coaches, and presidents admit to match fixing

Match fixing has become a wide spread epidemic throughout the football world, and recorded statements from Spanish league players, managers and presidents in the First and Second Divisions show that Spanish football isn’t exempt.

“I went to play against Levante and the coach, in the pre-match team talk, told us: ‘We’re going to play, to jump, to compete and to score. If we score a goal, they will equalise, and if they score a goal against us, we will equalise. If, in the 85th minute, the scores are level, we give up and that’s it’. We both needed a draw. We finished 0-0. In the talk, he told us not to fake it the whole way through the match. It was laughable”, an anonymous First Division player told MARCA.

An anonymous coach explained his struggle, saying, “I’ve even doubted about whether or not to put a player in the line up, thinking he had been bought. You don’t trust half the squad. But if you take them out and put young players in, they end up accusing you of not wanting to win.”

“This season in Rayo, there was contact with a player before the game against Mallorca, but the footballer immediately spoke up and his coach closed down the situation. What happened is that Rayo covered it up. I wouldn’t cover it up”, one top level Spanish football club president said. “League matches have been fixed this season”, says another.